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April 28 Another cellphone in another hall...I'm delighted to announce that my car has finally been given a name (courtesy of one of my best buds!) "Trixie" is still driving like a bat out of hell, and just today the Doctor I work with at the dialysis unit (see us together in my blog photos - I'm the one with a pink handbag and pink jacket!) commented that "it must be so much fun to drive" - and it is. I thought it to be a great compliment coming from a man who lives and dies by Mercedes, he drives some supercharged convertible number with more zero's to it's price tag than stitches I've put in in the last month! Which has been a fair amount trust me. Surgery has never been my most favourite subject, and whilst still / again working in casualty I was presented with a female who protected herself against a robber who tried to steal her cellphone. Thankfully, she got away with only, what, 8 stab wounds? Did I mention she also needed a plastic consult cause the guy cut 2 tendons on her left arm causing weakness to her digits. I think it's despicable. I also had to go to Alexandra this week for a trip down palliative care lane. For fear of being hijacked I refused to take my own car into the mess that is this township. I find it amusing that by simply driving a few km over the road from Sandton you can find yourself in one of the poorest areas (and crime hotspots). There was a woman with breast cancer and it was awful to see her dying. They gladly lopped off one breast last year, why they didn't take the other is beyond me - there is so much lymphoedema on the opposite side it's scary. All I can say is, thank goodness for morphine syrup to help the poor woman through these last dark days. I was sick this week - which got me a day and a half off varsity - which helped with doing some studying and catching up on much needed sleep. I must say, I actually feel somewhat human again! (Wonder how long that will last!) I'm impressed with Jacob Zuma's lobbying towards becoming the next president. I think he's still a total idiot, but at least he has a sense of humour. Last week he was seen at a political rally wearing a T-shirt that says "Evita Bezuidenhout for President" - I can't agree more. Perhaps she should really get her magnificient self out of Darling and bloody do the same thing for crime in our country that she did for HIV a few years ago! April 20 Pocket RocketAfter spending a week struggling to get the bank to pay out my finance and R300 on cellphone calls, I finally got my Mini on Wednesday night. It was worth every minute, every cent and a whole 7 years (since first falling in love with the "Pocket Rocket") I can honestly say I am thoroughly enjoying driving the (true) supermini. I might be tempted to just switch off the "shortest route" on the GPS so that I get to drive it for just that little bit longer. By the way, I don't think of it as a car, but rather a piece of history and superbly excellent technological engineering.  April 13 OutlookI've gotta say that tonight I once again have a wonderful outlook on life. I have passed another block exam (Integrated Primary Care) and am moving onto Surgery from Monday - which is terribly scary - considering I nearly failed the block last year. Then again, last year I buggered around the whole block cause I was going to move in with Randy. (PS LOVE YOU MORE HAMMIE!) In other news, inbetween all the studying this week I also did it. No not that! Read my last blog entry... Indeed! I found a Mini to buy. A sexy little red number with Satellite Navigation, Dynamic Stability Control and Rear Parking Assist (which is potentially not a bad thing seeing as I drove into a wall last year). Mildred will be passed on to Hammie (and his car Morag will be retired). I can't wait - I hope all goes well... At the end of this entry there is a picture of the new fag-mobile...I am yet to name the critter! (My favourite high-school teacher always use to say, a car always needs a name - preferably something odd). My first car was aptly named "Bessie" (which means berry) - since she was some funny blueberry colour. Bessie was a Fiat Uno. At that point in my life I desperately needed a reliable man, turned out "Floris" my dragon green Fiat Palio also wasn't the man for the job. So I got Mildred. For those of you who didn't know - Mildred's real name is in fact Milton. He was a drag queen - cause after driving her for 2 weeks I decided that she may appear like a woman, but in fact she was a man at heart. So hence, I don't think I can name the mini until I have driven him, or her for that matter, for more than a few blocks. This weekend will once again see me trying to cram in 6 weeks of a social life into 2 days! Impossible - most likely. Work is keeping me busy as well (but it's a good thing, cause I now once again have a car payment!) April 08 Mini MadnessAfter my treacherous experience with the blue oval last week, reading that they had won the award for best customer service and my already firm inclination to the brand I have decided. I want a Mini and I am not going to stop until I find one to buy! Whether it means selling a kidney or something, it's just gotta happen - SOON too! April 04 Losing your wheelbearings...It has been a particularly trying couple of days... On Monday whilst travelling home from Germiston hospital, dear Mildred (aka my Ford Fiesta) started making an extremely frightening and irritating high-pitched noise. It then vanished halfway home, but turned into a rattle or something like it. Considering the warranty I decided to take dear Mildred to the Ford garage for an expert opinion. I got some workshop manager woman - clearly not a lesbian and hence not to be trusted in that department. Anyway, she said in her expert opinion it was the cars brakes that needed to be replaced and that I should bring it in on Thursday. That seemed WAY to far away to drive with such a noise, and I hence got a booking for the next day at another dealership. Previously they had serviced my car and done a sterling job. As a result I thought why not trust them with this "simple" matter as well. I took the car in, and explicitly stated that it may be the brakes, but to please check the wheelbearings as well - just in case. On collecting the car, the noise was still there - and no, it wasn't dust on the brakes as the idiot who booked the car in suggested. They NEVER did a test drive and hence never discovered that it in fact WAS the wheelbearing. So when I took it back the head mechanic drove along and immediately agreed that something WAS wrong. They promised to repair the vehicle this morning. At 15:00 this afternoon, after having phoned twice and having not heard anything I lost me cool over the phone. Only to be told that they had found another problem with the car and had to order the part and that's why it's not ready. Oh and that they were sorry, but there wasn't a courtesy vehicle available for me. Uhm, ja, I lost it. Thankfully my mother was able to help me by loaning me her car. My dad, bless his soul, lost his temper as well, and went down to the garage. Amazingly enough they all of a sudden had an extra courtesy car "which we'd be glad to give you" - too late. I had already travelled the 50km home. It's ridiculous! I wonder what REALLY was wrong or is wrong? (Beside Barloworld Amstrong Alberton's complete imbecilic staff) Service in our country sucks more by the day. I'm tempted to buy a freaking Toyota Yaris! To make things worse, exams next week and I have to work this weekend - but at least they agreed to organise a courtesy car for the weekend should Mildred not have recovered by then. Marriage bad for you?A particularly interesting article courtesy of www.pinknews.co.uk and a reply by the editor of student BMJ 4th April 2007 10:59 PinkNews.co.uk writer A study says that marriage for gay men and lesbians is more dangerous than smoking. The Family Research Institute, a Colorado based think-tank well-known for their anti-gay views, studied same-sex marriages in Denmark and Norway. It claims that engaging in "homosexual behaviour" reduces life span by up to 24 years. In contrast, the lifespan of a smoker is only 7 years shorter than that of a non-smoker. Dr Paul Cameron said at the convention of the Eastern Psychological Association: "What justification is there for condemning smoking and endorsing homosexuality? "Today, all across the Western world, school children are being taught the acceptability of homosexuality and the wrongness of smoking." The research found that in Denmark, where gay marriage was legal between 1990 and 2002, married heterosexual men died at an average age of 74. The 561 married gay men died at an average age of 51. Married women died at an average age of 78, compared to 56 years for the 91 lesbians. In Norway, married heterosexual men died at an average age of 77 and the 31 gay men at 52. Women married to men in Norway died at an average age of 81. The average life expectancy for married lesbians was 56. "The consistency of reduced lifespan for those engaging in homosexuality is significant," said Dr. Cameron. "Given the greatly reduced lifespan for homosexuals, school children should be strongly and consistently warned about the dangers of homosexuality even more so than smoking. Those school districts which are introducing pro-gay curricula need to rethink their priorities." Dr Paul Cameron and Dr Kirk Cameron presented the convention with their research named the Federal Distortion Of The Homosexual Footprint. Paul Cameron has published over 40 articles on homosexuality. None of them positive. Read the editor of the Student BMJ's comments on Paul Cameron's research methods here 4th April 2007 14:21 Comment Anyone who logged on to PinkNews.co.uk this morning would have been shocked to read the headline that suggested homosexuals have a shorter life-span than smokers. What's worse, the headline suggested that this was a scientific study. Being a scientist myself, and having worked for one of the most reputed peer-reviewed medical journals in the world (the British Medical Journal) and learnt much about medical studies, I can now set the record straight. Paul Cameron is not a scientist, and his so-called research is not valid. Don't believe a word of it. First things first. According to the news release, Cameron released the findings of his "study" at the convention of the Eastern Psychological Association. Did he actually present a peer-reviewed scientifically and statistically valid report there? Of course not. Even an undergraduate student of statistics would have, as has happened so-often in the past, dismissed with incredulity this propaganda masquerading as science. I cannot find any information on sampling, the sources used, methodology of the study, or the statistical methods from which the conclusions were drawn. What he presented was a poster, dubiously titled "Federal Distortion of the Homosexual Footprint." A promotional campaign it certainly was. Research it ain't. I've never heard of Paul Cameron before today. And I read hundreds of scientific journals every month as part of my work. If his research was anything of a scientific nature, I'm pretty sure I'd have come across it. In any event, I was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, and went about researching his credibility and so-called scientific work. My first stop was obvious to anyone even remotely familiar with medical literature. PubMed - the US National Institutes for Health's database of almost all biomedical articles with any inkling of credibility published in the last 60 years or so is the largest of its kind. I searched for articles by the "scientist" in question. Almost a dozen articles by Paul Cameron turned up - all of them for a journal I had hitherto unheard of, called Psychological Reports, and one for the Nebraska Medical Journal. Were any of these articles actually credible research papers? No. Most were pieces of biased commentary, dressed up with flawed statistics, partly from his own misguided and unreliable "research," and partly from misrepresented data of other studies. I don't know about the editorial stance or about the editorial board of Psychological Reports, but one thing is certain, none of his papers have any scientific merit. I searched other databases - Ovid Medline, Science Direct and the British Library. I got nowhere. Next, I had to investigate the primary sources themselves -- Paul Cameron and the Family Research Institute. Surprise, surprise. It is a flagrantly anti-gay organisation. Its information to visitors reads: "Family Research Institute is a non-profit scientific and educational corporation that believes the strength of our society depends on preserving America's historic moral framework and the traditional family. "FRI is working to produce sound, scientific data on pressing social issues, especially homosexuality, in an effort to promote traditional policies. "We welcome all who would join in the fight to restore a world where marriage is upheld and honoured, where children are nurtured and protected, and where homosexuality is not taught and accepted, but instead is discouraged and rejected at every level." How does science work? Prove by disproving. No scientist would ever start a work with a self-evident bias. Nor would an organisation that purports to be educational or scientific. Yet, Paul Cameron has founded FRI, in his words to "preserve America's historic moral framework and the traditional family." And he calls the organisation scientific. What nonsense. This isn't the first time Paul Cameron and his colleagues' muddle-headed thinking has got many people upset, predominantly non-homosexuals. Even when he was working, two decades ago, as a professor at the University of Nebraska, he got many people upset when, in an interview with Penthouse Forum magazine, he indirectly called for extermination of all homosexuals. After the University refused (understandably) to renew his teaching contract, he founded the Institute for Scientific Investigation of Sexuality (ISIS), and used this so-called institute as a means to launch a vicious campaign against homosexuals in the US. Much to the disgust and distress of fellow psychologists and epidemiologists, the guy went on to distribute leaflets, and eventually books and videos, suggesting that homosexuals are more much more likely to be paedophiles, drug addicts and murderers, and that homosexual families are dangerous to society. A one-man publicity machine, he has repeatedly misused and manipulated statistics to portray gay men and women as serial killers, child molesters and disease carriers. Mark Pietrzyk, a research analyst for Log Cabin Republicans, wrote about Cameron and his cronies way back in 1994 in the New Republic. The most illuminating paragraph from his research is this: "A Cameron study that has received perhaps the most attention is "The Lifespan of Homosexuals." "It concludes that less than 2% of gay men survive to old age; that lesbians have a median age of death of 45; that gays are 116 times more apt to be murdered than straight men and twenty-four times more apt to commit suicide, etc. "The source of this material? A comparison of obituaries from gay newspapers with a sample from regular newspapers, a method that would be laughed at by any reputable scholar. "Obituaries in gay papers do not accurately portray deaths in the gay population as a whole. "They are not meant to provide a public record of deaths of all gays but to allow members of the urban gay community to express mourning for their peers, particularly those whose lives have been cut short by illness or accident. "Gays who die outside these communities or who die of natural causes are much less likely to be written up in a gay paper." Pietrzyk also reported that Cameron was expelled from the American Psychological Association, which he denied. The fact remains though that six psychologists complained to the APA about his sloppy methods, and an official investigation was launched in early 1982. Cameron resigned from the organisation later in the year, even though APA expressly forbids members under investigation from resigning. Funnily enough, Cameron responded to Pietrzyk's report, though his response was as silly as his claims. Apparently, the guy has consulted over 140 years of research on homosexuality. I should certainly like to see his findings from his large consultation, considering most reputed scientific journals of the world - including Science, Nature, PNAS, NEJM, BMJ and The Lancet - have reported on the large body of research pointing to the biological origins of homosexuality, not just in humans, but in hundreds of species across the animal kingdom. Doubtful? Just search Google Scholar or PubMed. The only organisations paying any heed to Cameron and the so-called findings produced by his team, are ultra right-wing traditionalists who are peurile in their objection to the prevalence of homosexuality across the animal kingdom. That includes, inter alia, human beings, if you didn't know. No wonder then that no worthy news organisations or scientific publications have ever paid heed to his work. As for the rest of us, the only thing worth doing, faute de mieux, is to ignore it all, and move on. One final point in defence of my own journal. Mr Cameron's website claims that he is a peer-reviewer for the BMJ on homosexuality-related articles. He has done one peer-review for us since 2003. We have since published more than 1000 articles on homosexuality, for none of which he served as a reviewer. And the BMJ has not published a single article, not even an electronic letter from him or his colleagues. Balaji Ravichandran is editor of the Student British Medical Journal. |
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